(^490) THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
japonaise and holding their wage bill down. To keep inventories lean,
they are demanding just-in-time deliveries, some of them at twenty-
minute intervals. Some affiliated partsmakers are now working for
outside car makers as well as for the mother assembly plant, thereby
maximizing the rate of utilization. Come a strike against the parent
company, should the workers in the plant continue to produce for
competitors? That's a hard one. Old-timers say no; others point to
painful reality. If labor gets too difficult, they warn, the auto makers
will turn to more cooperative suppliers, say in Mexico. (Viva la
NAFTA!) The big boys cannot afford to let a parts supplier hang up
the whole process. The pragmatists have been winning the
argument. (In effect, the possibility of such diversion has sapped
labor's bargaining power.) Labor ideologues are not happy: "You're
seeing a taste of business unionism," they scold. Labor in bed with
management.^32 Can this be love?
Meanwhile Japanese car makers are beginning to feel such Asian
rivals as Korea nipping at their heels. No rest or end in this kind of
war.
nora
(Nora)
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